Relatively Obscure:Moreover, environmental regulations and labor conditions would not be a factor in mining them in North Korea, as they are in many developed countries.

I guess I'm supposed to understand this as a good thing?

Yep! Slave labor is always good, especially when most of them die in horrible industrial accidents before they can develop the sicknesses related to poor working conditions, toxic runoff, and other industrial wastes.

In all seriousness, I hope the powers that be, whomever they be, come up with the least death-y resolution possible. The common people of the DPRK have been through plenty already.

I think the DPRK leadership should go through Nuremberg-style trials and punishments when it does happen.

Honestly I think a Chinese "liberation" and occupation of NK would be far better for the people of North Korea than their current system. China has some major problems on the human rights front, but honestly, probably not that much worse than some of our "allies" like Saudi Arabia.

They can allow things to remain as they are. The minerals in NK won't be sold due to strict sanctions and China will remain the #1 supplier of rare earth metals in the world and spend no more than they currently are.

They can nod to America. America takes out NK, and America competes with China in REM production.

They can spend billions of their own Yuan "liberating" NK to control and develop the mines.

Which one would you choose if you were China? I'd go with the first option myself.

1) A war with China is not in our best interests at this time2) China HAS de facto control using North Korean slave labor.3) So no one will be invading anytime soon unless Chubby decides to nuke Tokyo because he's bored.

/Seriously, the only reason we haven't invaded (due to the nukes and the crazies and the continuous raids on WK and Japan. Rare earths are nice to have. Not having idiots selling nukes for cash is in our immediate interests) is because China really doesn't want us on the Yalu.//On the off chance I ever get in a position of political power, "A Korean nuke is a Chinese nuke and shall be responded to accordingly." NK is China's client state, so they're their problem. And NK's crazy actions get treated as China's crazy actions.

They can allow things to remain as they are. The minerals in NK won't be sold due to strict sanctions and China will remain the #1 supplier of rare earth metals in the world and spend no more than they currently are.

They can nod to America. America takes out NK, and America competes with China in REM production.

They can spend billions of their own Yuan "liberating" NK to control and develop the mines.

Which one would you choose if you were China? I'd go with the first option myself.

China plays a long game, money isn't really a thing worth much in that scope, human rights aren't exactly a high priority either. Glass parking lot and plant a flag in the middle, call it a day.

entropic_existence:Honestly I think a Chinese "liberation" and occupation of NK would be far better for the people of North Korea than their current system. China has some major problems on the human rights front, but honestly, probably not that much worse than some of our "allies" like Saudi Arabia.

Best Korea is so awful I'm not opposed to this "solution." At least the Chinese stopped starving to death.

They can allow things to remain as they are. The minerals in NK won't be sold due to strict sanctions and China will remain the #1 supplier of rare earth metals in the world and spend no more than they currently are.

They can nod to America. America takes out NK, and America competes with China in REM production.

They can spend billions of their own Yuan "liberating" NK to control and develop the mines.

Which one would you choose if you were China? I'd go with the first option myself.

Not this time.China can't afford the loss of control if they hand the NK problem to the US.

This will be an internal Chinese affair and the US will cast a blind eye to the invasion.Heck, we may even cede SK to a unified Chinese controlled Korean peninsula.

The Japanese will squeal and use that threat as a reason to build up their military.Then we sell arms to Japan and the MIC rakes in the bucks.

I want to think about this in positive terms. NK has this high-demand raw material that SK can directly put to use, to the profit of both. The NK government can use the income from supplying SK, to raise the standard of living for their own people and take all the credit they want for it, instead of hiding behind the hollow threat of nuclear-armed bartering for food. With better food and standards of living, the NK government could buy what they now have to hold by force; loyal citizens. IT *could* have a stabilizing and mutually-beneficial effect on the entire region. If only people would let it. I am skeptical that it will work out this way. But it's nice to dream.

They can allow things to remain as they are. The minerals in NK won't be sold due to strict sanctions and China will remain the #1 supplier of rare earth metals in the world and spend no more than they currently are.

They can nod to America. America takes out NK, and America competes with China in REM production.

They can spend billions of their own Yuan "liberating" NK to control and develop the mines.

Which one would you choose if you were China? I'd go with the first option myself.

China plays a long game, money isn't really a thing worth much in that scope, human rights aren't exactly a high priority either. Glass parking lot and plant a flag in the middle, call it a day.

Any Pie Left:I want to think about this in positive terms. NK has this high-demand raw material that SK can directly put to use, to the profit of both. The NK government can use the income from supplying SK, to raise the standard of living for their own people and take all the credit they want for it, instead of hiding behind the hollow threat of nuclear-armed bartering for food. With better food and standards of living, the NK government could buy what they now have to hold by force; loyal citizens. IT *could* have a stabilizing and mutually-beneficial effect on the entire region. If only people would let it. I am skeptical that it will work out this way. But it's nice to dream.

That's the thing.If we were dealing with a sane leader, it would play out this way.

NK's leadership has shown that sanity isn't something they have in great supply.

So now, you have the potential for an unstable leader to have the ability to put a boot on the throat of the region's economy.Where before NK was a noisy nuisance, now they have the potential to be a power. That can't happen in a country with a God Emperor.

The problem is that to get 'at' these resources will take trillions of dollars in rebuilding and updating their infrastructure and NK can't do it. China won't pay for it and China won't let anyone else pay for it.

So, until we see a massive shift in geo-politics, those REEs are going to keep sitting there, untapped.

They already have. We've known about these rare earths (or guessed with a high degree of confidence) in NK for a while. The Chinese have the Kim regime by the balls economically, so they're basically able to steal the rare earths from NK in exchange for keeping the regime afloat.

If China tries to take over Best Korea for the rare-earth metals, I say let them. The citizens of Best Korea would be better off as Chinese citizens than Best Korean citizens. And more importantly, this doesn't start a war with the U.S. or shell Seoul.

They can allow things to remain as they are. The minerals in NK won't be sold due to strict sanctions and China will remain the #1 supplier of rare earth metals in the world and spend no more than they currently are.

They can nod to America. America takes out NK, and America competes with China in REM production.

They can spend billions of their own Yuan "liberating" NK to control and develop the mines.

Which one would you choose if you were China? I'd go with the first option myself.

China plays a long game, money isn't really a thing worth much in that scope, human rights aren't exactly a high priority either. Glass parking lot and plant a flag in the middle, call it a day.